Category: Social Media

For many people there is definitely a love-hate relationship with Instagram. Now that it is a property of Facebook it does have many quirks that you need to know about in order to be successful on that social media channel.

Instagram is only an app based product. While you can sign up and configure settings using a desktop or laptop, all of your posting needs to be through the Instagram app. Most people will use this either through their phone or a tablet. Personally I think it’s easier using a phone.

Instagram is only image-based. Users will post an image and then use the description area to discuss a topic. You can create your own images using a picture app, like Canva or PicMonkey, with or without text on them.

Using Hashtags on Instagram

In order to get engagement on your images, hashtags are extremely important. If you are familiar with Twitter then you understand that most of the time people will use three, maybe four hashtags, at the most.

This is where Instagram is definitely different. To get likes, you need to use at least 10 hashtags, if not more. Especially if you are a new account.

If you are an existing account with a decent amount of followers, maybe over 1000, then you may not have to use that many hashtags, if you choose. Many people with personal accounts will only use a few hashtags, as the post is mainly for their followers only.

How to Use Instagram in Your Small Business

But in order to grow your engagement and followers, you need to converse, answer and develop conversations yourself. Comment and like on other people’s posts. Follow those that you have information and posts that interest you. A lot of people will return the favor.

Because this is a Facebook owned company now, in order to be seen in other people’s feeds you need to be active. Instagram is all about engagement with each other.

The algorithms in the feed means that you may not see someone’s posts every single day. Or you may see posts that show up two and three days later.

How to Grow Your Followers

In order to find followers that you want to explore for your own feed, click on the magnifying glass and explore by either hashtag or by name. You also have the ability to pull in your Facebook friends and follow those people, should they have an Instagram account. You will also see recommendations of people but you can follow.

Following, liking, and commenting on other people’s posts is the best way to develop and grow your own following.

Make sure that you are offering posts of value so other people want to follow your account. Everyone’s time is valuable so give them a reason to follow you.

If you want to grow your Instagram site, contact us for ways we can help!

Most business owners today know that they have to use social media to reach out to find their customers and clients. But there is a lot of owners that are still not comfortable with using the different platforms that are available.

Pinterest is a powerful site for many businesses. Understanding how to use this site is going to help you in the search functions, increase your followers, and improve the click-throughs to your own website.

Here are some tips you can use to understand how Pinterest works and to improve your visibility there.

Tips for Using Pinterest with Your Small Business

First things first.

When setting up your Pinterest account, you need to make sure you completely fill out your profile with your business information, link to your site or blog, and put up a professional image or business logo as your avatar.

Now comes the fun part.

Building up your Pinterest boards and filling them with images. You always want to name your boards appropriately and be specific with your board names.

For example: If you sell kitchen products, just don’t toss out a board that’s titled Kitchen Goods. Be more specific and make multiple boards related to your products. Examples of some appropriate titles: Elegant Tableware, Everyday Tableware, Pantry Organization Products, Small Kitchen Appliances, Cookware & Bakeware, and so forth.

Make sure that every board has a well-written description along with appropriate keywords.

Find a Pinterest category for the board and label it with a description of what the board will include. Your settings should allow for public viewing, so that others can find your board and your pins.

Pin images that are from established websites along with images from your own website.

Mix-it up, so that those who are following you, don’t feel like you’re only there to spam your business products to them.

Make sure to use large, clear images.

Pinterest is a visual website. Create beautiful pinnable images that people will want to share. Maybe offer several images so they can choose or pin to different boards.

Each of your pinned items needs to have a description.

Don’t just label an image of a frying pan as great skillet. That’s not descriptive enough. A good example of a description for that particular pin would be: “A durable non-stick 12″ diameter frying pan available in 12 different colors. Sold individually or in a set.”

By having a better written description, you’re giving viewers the information they need to find your image. Plus by having longer and professional written descriptions, your pins are more apt to be picked up by major search engines.

You need to use Pinterest consistently with your business, at least several times a week.

Not only do you need to pin original images, it’s equally important to re-pin some of the images from your followers. In addition, don’t build a lop-sided social media account by having 5,000 followers, while ONLY following 42 users yourself. This gives users the impression that you’re only there to promote your products and not help to promote theirs or to engage/share with them.

One final tip: Don’t go pinning crazy by pinning 30+ images the same time each day, day after day.

Spread it out to different times of the day! Users will unfollow heavy pinners who clog up their homepage feed.

These tips for using Pinterest with your small business will help you by improving your visibility to potential new followers and customers.

We know that running a Pinterest account is time-consuming and hard work. You can hire a freelance writer/ghostwriter to help you manage, grow and promote your Pinterest business account. Ask us how we can help your business using Pinterest

Being a small business owner today involves so much more marketing and online know-how to ensure the visibility of your website and improve traffic. With all of the different tasks that are critical for success, it is the reason that so many companies use freelancers to help with the day to day tasks of running the online portion of their business.

If you are overwhelmed with all of the things you need for improving your online business presence but are not sure how a freelance writer can help you, check out this list! You can easily outsource these tasks.

How a Freelance Writer Can Help a Small Business Owner

1. Manage Social Media Accounts

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram are all great tools for a small business. A freelance writer can post new content to your social media channels daily, answer questions, field important questions to you directly and keep your social media accounts active and engaging.

2. Website Content

How long has it been since you refreshed your content? More than likely you need new SEO enriched content for your site. Need new product descriptions written by a professional? A freelance writer can do it for you!

3. e-Newsletter Content

An effective email marketing campaign is vital to any business. Your e-newsletter is a great way to market your business and provide valuable information to your customers and subscribers.

4. Blog Content

Let’s face it, business owners are busy and don’t have time to manage a blog. A freelance writer can manage your blog and/or write the content for it. This is a great way to educate customers about your products, provide valuable information to them, a great way to advertise your short-term product specials and to announce newly released products for sale.

5. Guest Post Content

Looking to get your business name and information out onto the web? A freelance writer can write expertly written blog articles for you to distribute to other blog owners for publishing.

6. Blog Clean-Up

SEO and marketing has really changed over the past 2 years and many blog owners don’t realize that their old blog posts may not be serving any type of value to them now. It’s important to update old posts to make sure they’re SEO enhanced, search engine compliant, have appropriate keywords & linkage and images added for additional business exposure.

This is just a portion of the work that a typical online small business owner needs to do. What part of this list needs the most attention on your site?